The Alabama Crimson Tide (29-5, 6-4) took on Georgia (31-5, 5-2) at Rhoads Stadium on Saturday to open a three-game series, but came away with a loss. Despite high spirits before the game, welcoming the 2012 National Championship squad back to their home stadium, Alabama struggled to wake up the bats and ultimately fell, 5-3.

Montana Fouts pitched well, finishing with ten strikeouts, but was unable to keep the Dawgs at bay who finished with eight hits as a team.

"The tale of the game was they had the key hit and we didn't," head coach Patrick Murphy said following the loss, "They had the big home run and we had the tying run at the plate in the seventh inning and didn't come up with the key hit."

In the top of the fourth inning, Georgia right fielder Jaiden Fields started things off with a single which was followed by a quick walk to Sara Mosely, putting two runners on. A deep shot to left field from first baseman Lacey Fincher brought the first run in, and hits from Jayda Kearney and Aniyah Black gave the Dawgs two more runs.

Ally Shipman got Alabama on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot to left field, but was unable to kick start a Crimson Tide comeback.

"I think I had the opportunity to come up with runners in scoring position quite a bit, but I managed to get the hit when nobody was on," catcher Ally Shipman said, "If I could take back that home run for a singe with bases loaded, I think I would."

The next inning, after a quick shut down of the Dawgs top of the order, the Tide loaded the bases and looked to have a chance to take the lead. Instead, head coach Patrick Murphy was ejected after arguing a questionable call and Alabama left three runners stranded on base.

After missing out on their chance to retake the lead, the Tide appeared to lose some of the wind from its sails. In the next inning, the Dawgs extended their lead further, knocking in two runs off of a Sydney Kuma homer and giving Georgia a 5-1 advantage.

In Alabama's subsequent chance to respond, the Tide was unable to find success at the plate, leaving runners stranded once more after putting two in scoring position.

In the sixth inning, Alabama looked to find another gear and made it close, bringing the deficit to just two, but were unable to complete the comeback effort.

The Tide will take on Georgia again tomorrow for a chance to even the series heading into Monday and regain control of the top of the SEC standings.

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